In Friday’s (10/25) Washington Post, Anne Midgette writes about the Järvi family of musicians, focusing on two conductors who will lead the National Symphony Orchestra this fall: Kristjan Järvi, founder of New York’s Absolut Ensemble and chief conductor of the MDR Symphony Orchestra, who will be on the NSO podium October 31 and November 1-2, and his father Neeme Järvi, scheduled for November 14-16. They are part of “the Järvi clan from Estonia, which for a while had a festival of their own. In addition to Neeme and Kristjan, there’s Kristjan’s brother, Paavo, for 10 years the music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, now … head of the Orchestre de Paris, and the designated chief conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan. There’s also a sister, Maarika, who is a flutist, and various descendants of Neeme’s brother Vallo, a conductor himself, who passed away in 1994.… According to Kristjan, Paavo, 10 years older, whom he calls ‘a role model,’ is ‘much more traditional than I am.’… Neeme Järvi, too, is a traditionalist, in the sense of building a career by leading an orchestra—notably Sweden’s Gothenburg Symphony, which he headed for 22 years.… Kristjan, by contrast, has been the wilder younger son, the one who embraces all genres of music…”
Posted October 28, 2013
